VALE POWER IS TOO MUCH FOR LLANELLI
EBBW Vale’s power told in the end as they ground out a home win against an exuberant Llanelli side.
Llanelli were excellent with ball in hand in Friday night’s Indigo Premiership clash but the home side were too strong up front.
The hosts opened the scoring through the boot of Rhys Jones before No. 8 Lewis Young powered over from close range.
Jason Strange’s side began to dominate the game physically and were soon celebrating their second try when openside flanker Alex Gray raced clear to score.
Jones added the extras, but despite not enjoying much possession Llanelli always looked dangerous behind the scrum, and Lewis Morgan found himself at the end of a tremendous team try which involved some excellent handling. That try meant the visitors trailed 17-5 at the break.
The Steelmen extended their lead just eight minutes into the second half when former Wales international Dafydd Howells showed his pace to run in unopposed from 45 metres out.
Just when Ebbw Vale thought the result was in the bag, Llanelli hit back when Joseph Hutchings sliced through the home defence to score, with Iwan Evans adding the extras.
Any chance of a Llanelli comeback evaporated when Harrison Button was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball at the breakdown.
The Steelmen controlled the final stages to record an important win.
Meanwhile, Llandovery have rescheduled all but two of their Indigo Premiership league and cup games, writes Huw S Thomas.
Programmes have been badly hit by the Covid outbreak.
The Drovers’ league game against Pontypridd has been moved to Sunday, February 27. And March 12 is now the date for Llandovery’s clash with Ponty in the quarter-final of the Indigo Premiership Cup.
Llandovery’s rejigged programme leaves the club with a guaranteed 10 fixtures to fulfil – three home games and six away in the league, plus one home game in the cup.
If Llandovery were to beat Pontypridd in the quarter-final they would have a semi-final on neutral territory and possibly a final to play at the Principality Stadium.
They also head to Merthyr on February
19 and visit Swansea on March 5. They visit Ebbw Vale on March 17, face Llanelli at Parc y Scarlets on March 26 and host Cardiff on April 2.
There is a trip to Aberavon on April 9 and a derby at Carmarthen Quins on April 15.
A date for the league game against Bridgend at home has yet to be finalised.